Even asleep, Kara knew the moment something changed.
She had trained herself over the years to modulate her powers to live as close to a normal, Earth-style human life as she possibly could. Sometimes, she could tuck her powers into the back of her mind and feel that way, like nothing more than a regular Earth girl. But she still had to be so careful with the way she carried herself, the way she walked, the way she touched people and objects and everything in between. Her body was just different under a yellow sun.
There was still a crackle of power beneath her skin now, but it was nothing like the depth she was used to carrying. She felt much closer to how she felt on Argo, under Rao – human and vulnerable in a way that, especially here in Vallo, she couldn’t afford to be.
Stil, she tried not to panic. It was still dark outside when she looked up toward the window, seeing through the sheer curtains to the city lights above and around the penthouse. She took a slow breath and reached gently for Lena, a hand smoothing across her upper arm. She hated to wake her, but she knew Lena would want her to if something was wrong. And she knew without a doubt something was very, very wrong.
“Lena,” she murmured, dipping her head to press her lips to her girlfriend’s jaw. “Are you awake?”
“If I have to be,” Lena murmured, a soft, sleepy sigh huffing from between her lips. She was just beginning to breach the conscious world and barely registered what was pressing against her skin - a feather, perhaps? That didn’t make a lick of sense; the drowsiness was obviously talking. As was Kara, whose voice sounded faintly urgent.
And so was the pace of her beating heart, which was an insistent thump in her ears. That made Lena sit up on her elbows suddenly, eyes snapping open. “Are you having a heart attack?”
If Kara’s heart rate had picked up a bit with her nerves, it practically started hammering at the way Lena suddenly jolted upright and looked at her with those wide eyes. But it was the question that got her. Lena wasn’t laying on her chest or anywhere near close enough to hear her heart beating. She hadn’t grabbed her wrist or her neck to feel her pulse racing.
That could only mean–
“Can you hear my heart beating??” Kara asked, her voice at least as frantic as Lena’s and maybe a half octave higher than usual.
That was a question Lena had to seriously think about despite knowing the answer. Sunlight hadn’t started to filter through the windows but that strangely wasn’t a hindrance, and having open eyes made her realize that her depth perception was a bit different.
And, yes, she was still hearing Kara’s heartbeat, and she found that if she chose to hyperfixate on it, it was akin to a roar in her ears.
“I can hear it,” she confirmed, careful not to move while she took in how different her senses felt. Were those conversations she was beginning to overhear? Vehicles? The urine stream of a dog relieving itself outside on a fire hydrant? “Among – other things.”
Oh no.
It was one thing for Kara to be without her powers. It was rare but not something she’d never experienced before. She’d solar flared several times in her life, especially since becoming Supergirl and pushing her powers to and over their limit when it became necessary. But that hadn’t happened here.
And Lena had her powers.
Kara made an effort to collect herself, measure her breathing, and let her heart slow. If Lena could hear it beating too fast, it was only going to make it harder for her to adjust. She reached out to take her hands, too, putting much more of her strength than she’d usually allow behind some squeezes.
“I woke you,” she began, voice very intentionally soft, “to tell you I felt like my powers were gone. I wouldn’t have guessed that you had them, but… I think you do, honey.”
A sobering revelation at – whatever time it was this very early morning. Lena didn’t need coffee, but she felt herself wanting the comfort of coffee to cope. She carefully ran a hand through her hair, somewhat all over the place from sleeping, and she had done it so slowly as if she was worried that she’d rip it all out by the roots on accident.
Because if what Kara said was true (it most likely was), then she knew what kind of strength she could be carrying.
“I shouldn’t… move, right?” Lena asked cautiously, eyes darting across the bedroom and then back to Kara who she could – oh no. If she wasn’t careful, she could snap Kara in half. Couldn’t she? “I shouldn’t move. It would be too dangerous for me to move. I don’t want to destroy anything.”
“You won’t destroy anything. We just have to help you adjust,” Kara assured her. It wasn’t practical to keep Lena so afraid of her powers that she felt paralyzed to the spot. This was new and admittedly problematic, but it wasn’t impossible to manage. She had lived with these powers for years; she could teach Lena how to manage them until they figured out how to fix this – or since this was Vallo, it went back to normal on its own.
“You’ll have to put more thought into how you move,” she explained. “You have to think about the force of each step and the strength with every touch.” A beat, then: “I know that sounds crazy complicated, but I know you can do it. And I’m right here to help you.”
That was a lot of mental labor to do for the most mundane things. Kara spent most of her life under a yellow sun to acclimate, and Lena wasn’t sure how well she’d do in one morning. “I didn’t expect a speech about my self-confidence on how to work with your powers today,” she chuckled, nervously, and very consciously - and lightly - pulled the blanket off her. “Maybe we should get Krypto’s collar and put it on me?”
She was half-serious. It was a thought. Maybe when she grew more comfortable with the idea she could… play around a little bit with all of this like an experiment, but she wanted to make sure that she could get through everyday tasks without catastrophic consequences.
“Oh!” Kara’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! That’s a great idea!” Of course that was a sensible course of action. The red sun emitters in Krypto’s collar was a much quicker solution than attempting to teach Lena to become, essentially, completely neurotic about every move she made. So, she turned to look out their open bedroom door and called out, “Krypto! Here, boy!”
It was barely seconds later that their fluffy white boy bounded up the stairs and jumped onto the bed. Did it matter that it was, at the latest, five in the morning? Absolutely not. Krypto was always eager for pets and cuddles. He had taken well to his training and stayed in his own bed downstairs when instructed, but getting to share the bed with Lena and Kara wasn’t an opportunity he ever turned down.
“Buddy, we’re gonna let Lena borrow your collar for a little while, okay?” Kara grinned as she scratched her fingers through the fur on Krypto’s face. His ears were twitching with happiness and he was panting at her with the biggest doggy smile on his face. “Can you be good? No ripping chunks out of the counter?”
The little yip of acknowledgement she received was good enough for her. She reached for the clip at his neck then gestured for him to lay down. She had gotten him well enough power-trained that she wasn’t too concerned about the potential for wreckage. If he just stayed still for a little while, she could keep her focus on Lena.
“Here, baby.” She reached for her girlfriend’s wrist and wrapped the collar around it a few times – Lena’s wrist was considerably slimmer than Krypto’s neck, after all. “This will work until we can get you something a little more your style.”
It belatedly occurred to Lena that borrowing the collar meant that Krypto would be without one, but at this rate? The dog might have more control over these powers than she did. Wasn’t that just something. “For a moment there I thought you were planning to put that around my neck - and then we’d have to have another discussion on kinks,” she smirked, but she was relieved to have it on. “Thank you, by the way. I think I need some… mental adjustment to happen before I think of playing around with your power set.”
What the hell happened, anyway? Another Vallo hiccup? Did someone experiment with something magical again? Figuring out who was the responsible party behind these things was a little difficult now.
“How are you feeling?” Lena asked, smoothing a hand into her girlfriend’s hair. “Any strange powers for you?”
The way Lena immediately relaxed when she came in contact with the emitter eased some of Kara’s nerves, too. Whatever was going on with her had taken a backseat when she realized that Lena had gotten her powers; that was far more pressing of a concern. She remained confident that Lena could handle them when she was ready, but going from human to Kryptonian was a much more potentially destructive change than Kryptonian to… maybe not quite human?
There was that crackle thing going on. She felt like there was still power within her reach, but it didn’t feel the same as the powers she’d lived with for the past twenty-odd years. And yet it felt vaguely familiar, too?
“I wonder if I might have… yours,” she answered, brows creased in thought as she leaned into those soft hands in her hair. She met Lena’s eyes and asked, “What does your magic feel like?”
The thought of Lena missing her magic hadn’t hit her until now. The whole Kryptonian thing was a lot more overwhelming - it sharpened her senses, and not to be cliche but it had made her skin and bones feel like steel. The sensations were all dampened thanks to the collar around her wrist.
“Ah,” she blinked, figuring out just how to word it. “It’s there, always in the background - like a quiet song in your bloodstream, and sometimes your heart becomes a bomb because so much of it is tied into how you feel.” Anger became fire, sadness could cause a little rain, thinking too much would make the breeze blow stronger, nurturing feelings could make flowers bloom. The elements could spike up all according to emotions, and she had a lot of experience with fire in particular.
It was a good thing Lena had experience in compartmentalizing with her tiny boxes trick. She had regretted giving Brainy that kind of advice, but in regards to keeping her magic in check, it worked wonders.
Kara smiled softly, reaching out to run her hands gently down Lena’s forearms and squeeze. Under the red sun emitters, she shouldn’t feel any more human than she usually did, and it was nice to touch her without worrying about hurting her. She would have to consider having red sun lamps installed in the new house – for her and for Lori. The portables worked wonders on the occasion they needed them in the bedroom, but they were safer in Lena’s lab, where their wily Kryptonian dog couldn’t shatter them.
“That sounds almost romantic,” she murmured, closing the minuscule distance to press a kiss to Lena’s lips. If Lena’s magic was so intertwined with her feelings, surely acting on the strongest feelings she could fathom would confirm or deny her suspicions.
Lena was happy to take the kiss, morning breath and all, relieved to be able to do this without obsessing over whether or not she was careful enough, gentle enough. She never worried about handling Kara roughly. It was Kara who could direct planes with her bare hands and be on the receiving end of a bullet without consequence.
“You’re delicate now,” she teased with a chuckle, ghosting her mouth over her cheek. “I think I’m going to enjoy the opportunity to carry you around in the air for once - assuming I can handle all of this without having to file an insurance claim on myself.”
“You will,” Kara said, her confidence as unwavering as ever. The kiss hadn’t manifested anything she noticed, but that sizzle beneath her skin had picked up a bit. She was already convinced it was Lena’s magic – if Lena had her powers, that made the most sense – and now she was a little concerned about how it might manifest. She had seen her beautiful, talented girlfriend set fire to things quite a few times in the process of learning how to wield her magic.
“But for now, you should get more sleep. I’d say I’m sorry I woke you, but it probably worked out for the best.” If Lena had woken up and put a foot through the floor, they’d be having a very different morning and, likely, much more extreme reactions.
“Darling,” Lena sighed with fondness. “I just woke up with the knowledge that I have Kryptonian strength. There is no more going to bed.” She was always an early riser to begin with; her alarm would have gone off in the next hour or so. “I am up, and–”
She pulled Kara in for another kiss. “So are you, I’m sure. I want to get through the morning basics without destruction, but afterwards - I want to try and figure things out without this very unfashionable bracelet?”
Kara leaned into the kiss, letting her forehead rest against Lena’s when it broke. “I think we can figure that out,” she murmured, sliding her hands across Lena’s shoulders. It was true, she was up and didn’t foresee falling back asleep easily. Maybe she’d entice Lena into a nap later; she had a feeling, in this state, she would need it much more than usual.
“So, breakfast? I can do omelets! We should still have enough eggs. And you’re gonna be super hungry with a Kryptonian appetite.”
“It’s a good thing we’re often well-stocked to cater to a Kryptonian appetite,” laughed Lena. Their fridge was absolutely stuffed, as was their pantry - and they often went out to eat, too. Kara’s stomach required its own budgeting sheet. “I’ll take omelets gladly, and you.”
Her eyes snapped to Krypto and, with all the love, she pointed at him accusingly.
“We are trusting you to not be a bullet around this penthouse. And no unauthorized flying just because you think you see an alicorn and need to chase it.”
Lena didn’t think she’d ever say those kinds of words in her life, but here she was - in a different world, currently possessing Supergirl’s abilities, and with the knowledge that alicorns were very real.
Krypto took the pointing as his opportunity to scooch closer to Lena and plop his head into her lap, looking up at her with another one of those big puppy smiles of his. Kara shook her head fondly, knowing exactly what he was looking for – kisses. He was such a love bug, especially compared to their haughty cat, and one of her favorite pictures of him was one of his white fur marred with Lena’s red lipstick stains.
“He’ll be good,” Kara assured, reaching out to rub at Krypto’s neck. “Won’t you, boy? It’s only for a few hours! He can keep us company until we get you ready to fly along with him.”
Lena couldn’t resist that face for long. She wasn’t a monster. Krypto was given those scritches, and then she helped lift their head up to give them a little kiss on the snout. She was met with tongue. “Sounds like a plan.”